Major civic projects in Khalifa cities soon

The Municipality and Town Planning Department of Abu Dhabi is planning to carry out major civic amenities projects, including new road networks for Khalifa 'A' and Khalifa 'B' twin cities, the National Consultative Council was told yesterday.

According to a council report, the projects include 200 new houses for the nationals, a new bridge linking the twin cities with Shahama and Umm Al Nar, new clinics, a hospital, new schools and two police stations.

The plans have been prepared after the council expressed concern over the lack of basic amenities and infrastructure facilities in the twin cities in its meeting in March.

The issue was referred to the council's Committee for Municipalities and General Services Affairs to hold talks with the authorities concerned.

A report was reviewed by the council at yesterday's session, chaired by Speaker Abdullah Mohammed Al Masood, following talks with the department officials.

The committee reported that the department has initiated several projects for the two cities and some are under way. They aim at attracting more residents to move into the two cities to help reduce the pressure on downtown Abu Dhabi.

The cities were launched about 10 years ago under a plan to encourage residents to shift from downtown. However, due to lack of commercial activities and poor civic services the cities remained thinly populated.

The members said lack of enough commercial centres, schools, parks and medical centres in the two cities are forcing residents to move to Abu Dhabi putting additional pressure on the city, especially in terms traffic flow.

"The new cities were built under a strategic project to avoid congestion in downtown Abu Dhabi and its suburbs, which were expanding due to population growth," members said.

According to the department's plans, two interchanges providing easy access to the twin cities is under study, in addition to a road to the airport.

The other projects include an access route to Khalifa 'B' via Dubai-Mafraq interchange.

"A major project of commercial centres, parks and other public places, wedding halls, an Eid prayer ground, rest stations for travellers and residents is under way," the council was told.

Members while taking part in the debate urged the municipality to intensify its efforts to complete the project quickly to avoid pressure on downtown Abu Dhabi. They said this should have been done earlier.

Members demanded the construction of more commercial centres such as departmental stores, shopping malls, public places and parks, more schools and health centres and hospitals there.

They also urged the local authorities to encourage further private sector investment on entertainment facilities to satisfy the needs of the residents.

The council also reviewed its earlier session's proceedings and committee meetings at the NCC Secretariat.

New project:
* Two hundred new houses for nationals in city 'B'
* A bridge to link city A with Umm Al Nar/Shahama
* Two police stations for cities 'A' and 'B'
* Five sports centres in city 'A'
* Six elementary schools in city 'A'
* Four primary schools in city 'A'
* Four secondary schools in city 'A'
* Two clinics in city 'A'
* Clinic in city 'B'
* School health clinic in city 'A'
* Hospital in city 'A'